So I’ve decided that before I publish anything on my portfolio site, I’m going to start putting the work I’m doing up here on TCMMT first to give you guys a first look.

Below is a spec piece commissioned by the Online Poster Printing company headquartered in Los Angeles. I met them through my friend Sam (who is employed there) and OPP is looking to create a series of videos explaining all sorts of things regarding their products, processes, etc. They’ve been through a couple artists already, but they weren’t successful in finding something they liked, so they commissioned me to take a shot at it with one piece. Their commission also included a logo treatment (seen at the begining of the video) to be used throughout their video campaign (if my spot was selected). The catch was that I only had about 12 hours to put it all together.

That’s what I came up with. I spoke with them on the phone after they viewed it and apparently they really liked the direction I took with the piece. I’m going to be meeting with them sometime next week to discuss me doing the entire campaign. I know it’s not the most exciting subject matter in the world, but I actually enjoy the challenge of making something as mundane as photo printing to be visually informative AND interesting.

I have no clue what happened to me today, but for the life of me I just couldn’t concentrate on anything. The more I’d try to focus, the more resistant I became. This really pisses me off as the list of things I have to do before I can start freelancing is piling up and I sat around idle today NOT doing it. So annoying. I have to work harder than that.

What do any of you who might be perusing this site do when you hit a wall, or find yourself being a little too slack in your work?

So this past weekend I partook in a mini-vacation to Mammoth Mountain with my South Bay Friends. It’s one tall mamma jamma located a little more than 280mi north of L.A. To say the least it was amazing.

I learned how to board with my friend Raf back east but in all honesty, the place where I learned couldn’t even hold a candle to the place I was this past weekend. I have never seen a mountain so big so huge so gigantic so mammoth. Some of the runs we went on took a good 10-15 minutes from top to bottom (and I board for speed). Unfortunately, Scotty broke his arm on his 2nd run on the first day. That sucked, but all the partying done in the evening until the wee early hours more than made up for it. The weather couldn’t have been more perfect. The company was great. And, like the post title says, at the highest point, I was 11,053 ft above sea level.

Here are some interesting things I learned about being 11,053 ft. up:

• Cigarettes last FOREVER; At one point JR handed me a smoke to go inside. I was outside a good 15 min smoking it when he came back and I handed it back to him with the cig only being a little more than half done. WOW.
• It is indeed really hard to get a full breath unless you really try (not related to the smoking)
• You will fart.  A lot.
• Being drunk lasts a LOT longer
• The air somehow tastes cleaner

I don’t have any pics of the trip currently (cause I’m still only using my iPhone for a camera at the moment), but I’ll have pics from other peeps’ cameras up soon enough.

Now that I’m back from my “post-fulltime job vacation”, I’ve been hustlin’ around getting my reel together, meeting with potential clients, and organizing all my shit. It’s time for me to get my nose to the grindstone and get my showreel of work from 2008 up and online. I want to have it posted by Feb 7th or 8th at the absolute latest. I’ll keep all 3 of the people who read this site posted as it comes along.

My dear friend (and ex-girlfriend of a little over a decade past) Shanelle just found out I have a blog and told me that it completes her view of me and I’m now Barney Stinson-esque. How fucking cool is that shit?

SO…Originally I was supposed to have my last day of work last Friday, but a last minute job came through, and I landed my first freelance gig…with the same company that layed me off lol. I’ve just finished working on a suicide project (any broadcast project with less than 2 days turnaround) and I think it turned out pretty good. I’ll post it up here when I get a chance.

Yeah, lame update I know, but I’m trying to get into the habbit of writing on this bitch. Unfortunatly I don’t have a whole lot to say currently. Just trying to get all my shit in order so I can hit the ground running when I start looking for real new freelance gigs. (and by shit I mean updated resume, demo reel, list of target studios, and my portfolio site updated)

As of this coming Friday (Jan 23, 2009) I will be officially unemployed. The recession finally caught up with me, coincidentally right after Obama was sworn in just yesterday and spoke of economic tough times ahead. Ah foreshadowing…she is an evil bitch.

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